Four Years
by churtoil820
Summary: The years that led to Gold and Ruby being so much more. AU University - Pokemon still exist, they're just not being used for battling. RubyxGold / Eyewearshipping / Vainshipping A hint of Originalshipping. Just a hint. Like one line of it.
1. First Year

Ruby steps into his assigned dorm room, entering a decent sized space with two neatly prepared twin-sized beds and two table drawers, all on either side, making the room perfectly symmetrical. As he closes the door, he puts down his heavy stroller and duffel bag to look out the window, revealing the cityscape of Castelia.

The flocks of Swanna and Unfezant flying over the magnificence of Skyarrow Bridge made him feel relaxed and refreshed. He was waiting for such a long time for this opportunity. An opportunity that will allow him to live by himself, without having his parents telling him what to do, or maids and butlers to take care of him. He'll finally be able to prove to his dad that he is capable of taking care of himself.

Turning away from the captivating view, he begins to unpack, claiming the left side of the room, hoping his roommate wouldn't mind.

After an hour of unpacking and decorating, the door abruptly opens, revealing a golden-eyed teen, wearing a yellow and black hat backwards, with yellow goggles over them.

"Heya, the name's Gold," the teen cheekily smiles as he roughly carried his own duffel bag through the door. "I'm guessing you're my roommate," he reaches out his hand, offering a handshake.

"Yeah," Ruby nods, shaking Gold's hand, quite rapidly, and awkwardly.

Gold lifts an eyebrow at Ruby's failed attempt at a proper handshake, and smirks. "So, uh. You done or..."

Ruby flushes red in embarrassment and stops the aggressive handshake. "Sorry. My name is Ruby. It's nice to meet you, Gold."

"Nice to meet you too. First time I've ever met someone who can't do handshakes," Gold teases, chuckling. He turns away from the scowl being thrown his way and looks around their shared room, "This place looks sick. I guess you already chose your side of the room."

"Oh, sorry about that," Ruby scratches his neck, hoping Gold didn't mind. "Didn't know when you were arriving so I just decided."

Gold plops himself and his bag on the bed, across Ruby's. "It's cool, nothing to worry about." He lifts his head, staring at the already decorated portion of their shared room. His eyes widen as he notice all of the expensive items Ruby owns. "Whoa, so you're a rich boy, huh?"

"Uh, what? N-no I'm not."

Gold raises his eyebrows at him, sitting up from the bed, pointing at various objects on the other side of the room. "The limited edition Z-Strika 15 laptop, the newest Devon manufactured running shoes, the Primarina makeup box and sewing kit—dunno why you have that, but whatever—and you even have a full set of the cosplay pikachu dolls!" He quickly rushes across the room, grabbing the Pikachu Libre doll. "Dude, each one costs more than a freaking comet shard!"

Ruby snatches the pikachu doll from him, placing it back on the rack with care. "Alright, fine. My parents are rich, but it's not like I wanted all of this anyway, they just buy me stuff without asking."

"Yeah, but still. It's nice to be able to get stuff like that, except for the makeup box and sewing kit. Even your mom bought those for you?"

"Uh, y-yeah." He looks away, flushing. "I guess I should hide all this, huh? I didn't really want to attract too much attention."

"If you're trying to hide the fact that you're rich, you're not doing a good job at that." Gold chuckles, laying back down on his bed. "But I didn't say there's anything wrong with being rich. You can act like that all you like—I ain't judging—but if you don't want the entire university to know you're rolling in dough, you might want to tone it down. Especially those clothes. Those clothes screams Gucci." He turns away, taking a bit of rest while still wearing the same clothes he travelled with.

Ruby looks down at his own clothing with a pout, "But I like this outfit," he mutters under his breath.

-O-

The feeling of his phone vibrating through his pocket woke Gold up from his slumber. He pulls out the device and notice a message from his friend, Silver, which is why he decides to ignore the text and put down the phone. Waking up to the gloomy afternoon of his shared dorm room, isn't exactly what he expected his day was going to be, but the long ride to Castelia was no joke. Silver was most likely just checking up on him again, which he always does even though he acts indifferent towards him.

He sits up from his bed and looks around the room, noticing that he hasn't started unpacking. Deciding that it was now or never, he starts opening his bags, until he hears muffled voices outside.

"Yeah, and here's my room." The door opens, revealing Ruby, carrying two heavy boxes. "Thanks again for helping me out, Sapphire."

A faint glimpse of a girl wearing a blue bandana could be seen outside. "No problem, always glad to help a fellow girl in need," she says in a teasing tone.

Gold smiles as he sees his roommate sigh in annoyance.

"Alright, you can go now," says Ruby, closing the door on her face.

Sapphire's muffled shouts rang outside. "Hey! You can't treat a girl like that," she shouts.

"You're more of a barbarian, honestly."

"I heard that!"

"You were suppose to."

Gold lifts an eyebrow, amused at their quarreling. When the loud grunting and stomps faded away, signaling that the girl had left, he decides to make his presence known to his roommate. "She your girlfriend?" he asks, nonchalantly.

"What?" Ruby turns to him, startled. "No, ew! That brute will skin me alive. Besides, she's more of a sister to me than anything—an evil sister," he jokes, remembering the times when she would coax him to do dangerous stunts. Although he couldn't exactly fault her for wanting to do exciting things and take risks, especially since her parents are as overprotective and strict as his. He could see himself years back when he was like that too, but time goes on and it changes people.

"You sure? With the way you two act. You two seem like you're married." Gold insisted, a cheeky smirk on his face.

"Just because we argue a lot doesn't mean we're together. Why does everyone always think that."

"Chill, I was just teasing ya."

"Whatever," Ruby proceeds to open the boxes, bringing out a bunch of stylish clothing. He kept minding his own business until he noticed that Gold was still staring at him. "What?" He asks, rather uncomfortable.

"You were right," says Gold as he earns a confused expression from the other.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Ruby raises an eyebrow at him. Then, suddenly noticing the annoying cheeky smirk that is practically a trademark on Gold's features.

"You're not a rich boy. You're a wealthy lass," says the golden-eyed teen before he was bombarded by knitted cushions.


	2. Second Year

Gold is sitting on his own bed, dressed in his school uniform with his favorite black and yellow hat, as he watches Ruby from across their shared room. The pompous teen was too busy brushing his own hair, and damn was he taking his time with it. Although Gold can't exactly fault him for it, since he himself spend ten minutes getting his hair done by having that one lock of hair to pop out nicely from his cap. The only thing that bothers him is the fact that Ruby will just cover his hair with that hat of his—rendering the thirty minutes of hair brushing, pointless.

"Why do you even bother doing that?" Gold asks.

"What do you mean? I've always brush my hair. You've seen me do this since the start of the term." Ruby glances at him with a raised eyebrow, still brushing.

"Yeah, you do. It's just that you're going to be wearing your hat—or whatever that thing is—over your head anyways. So what's the point?" Gold never brought up Ruby's hat before. He just assumed it's another one of the few things rich folks have. Like the cape Professor Lance wears all the time.

"First of all, it's a beanie."

"More like a plastic bag," Gold muttered under his breath, earning a scoff from the other.

"Second of all, just because I don't have my hair exposed all the time doesn't mean I shouldn't take care of it." Ruby sneers at him, still brushing. Yep, he is still brushing.

Gold rolls his eyes and lays down back on his bed. He doesn't necessarily have to wait for Ruby, but since they have the same first class it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave together. Besides, he has noticed how Ruby acts, trying too hard to look independent and average, but unfortunately for the pompous teen, he's just too obvious with the way he presents himself.

_No wonder Professor Stone favors him, _he thought, bitterly.

But Ruby did tell him that he doesn't want anyone to know about his wealthy status, so he is willing to put up with him since he considers him a friend already, no matter how many times the ruby-eyed teen would spray expensive perfume at him whenever he pisses him off.

Although another thing that Gold noticed—and is definitely taking advantage of—is how cute Ruby looks when he gets embarrassed, which is quite weird but he doesn't really bother to think too much into things.

"Just because you don't have your hair exposed all the time doesn't mean you don't take care of it," Gold repeats Ruby's previous words. "So you're telling me that you also brush your hair down there too." He smirks, pointing below the teens stomach. "No wonder you take so long in the showers."

Ruby blushes madly at the inappropriate teasing. As an automatic response, he grabbed the closest pillow and throws it across the room, hoping to hit the smug teen. Unfortunately, it didn't as it was only caught.

"Oooh, Throwing pillows again? Really manly, Ruby."

"Says the guy who still wears goggles over his hat. What are you? An eight year old?"

"Hey, my goggles are a gift, and I wear them proudly," he points at his eyewear, with pride.

"W-well, I bet you begged your parents to buy you those, so you could look like one of those badly drawn anime characters," Ruby mocks, throwing another pillow. When the pillow actually manages to hit its target, he realize how stiff Gold became. The sight of the smug teen flushing red made Ruby realize that his assumption was correct. "Oh, Arceus. I was right!" he laughed.

In his embarrassment, Gold said the first thing that popped in his head. "Y-Yeah, well at least I don't play dress up!" He shouts, then immediately covers his mouth, realizing what he just said.

Ruby instantly stops laughing and gives Gold a terrifying glare. "What?" he asks, approaching Gold.

"U-uh...I mean you play dress-up, l-like with the pokemon dolls. You know, with the way you change their c-clothes." Gold nervously smiles up at Ruby who was looming over him. He wonders if his lie worked, but when the terrifying glare didn't go away, he knows that the other won't back down until he tells the truth.

Knowing that there was no way out if it, he takes a deep breath and looks away from his roommate. "One time I got back early from one of my classes. I kinda accidentally peaked in and saw you wearing a pink and blue dress."

Ruby flushes red at the realization that his own roommate saw him wearing a dress, but retained his intimidating form as he folds his arms to prevent himself from showing any signs of weakness. "I was only doing that to measure the dress I made for Sapphire—wait a sec, you watched me! Dude, that's fucking creepy!"

"I d-didn't watch you! I just peeked and saw you and then I immediately left." Gold raises his hands in defense, feeling uncomfortable and not liking the feeling of being so small. As a result, he gathers all the energy he could muster to turn away in defiance to Ruby's intimidating form. "What made you think I was going to ever look at you like that."

"...Well...whatever, just don't ever bring it up again." Ruby scoffed, grabbing his bag, and went out of the room.

Gold stares at the door where he last saw his furious roommate, and breathe out a sigh.

Not a word was said between them for the rest of the day.

-O-

A day has passed and after finishing their classes, Gold was lounging on his bed, reading a Proteam Omega comic book that was given to him by his friend, Silver, during his fifteenth birthday. Ever since the red-haired teen found out about the franchise, he has been gifting him nothing but Proteam Omega related products. In fact, the sight of the mecha action figure on his desk drawer was one of the few he received from him as a gift. He's not as passionate over the series like Silver, but he doesn't mind taking part on his friend's interests. _Maybe_ _I should introduce him to Diamond,_ Gold thought, remembering how his beret wearing classmate often reference the franchise.

Speaking of friends.

He glances at Ruby who was busy working on a recent assignment. The two of them haven't spoken to each other since yesterday, and it was starting to annoy Gold since he wouldn't want to spend his entire college life walking on eggshells around his roommate.

Wondering what to say, he decided to bring up a casual conversation first to ease the tension between them.

"Um...I didn't know you make clothes." He began, without looking away from his comic book.

Ruby raises his head, glancing at Gold, then going back to his work. "Uh, yeah. I've been making clothes since I was a kid."

"That's cool."

Neither said anything else until Gold puts down his comic book. "Look. I'm sorry for what I said earlier, and for what I did. It was wrong of me to do, and I should have made myself known when it happened. Anyways, I just want you to know that I don't think there's anything wrong if you like doing that kind of stuff, and I don't think it makes you any less of who you are."

Ruby stops writing and looks at him. "Thanks, for apologizing, and I'm glad that you're okay with it even though I'm not into crossdressing." He chuckles at Gold's widened eyes in realization that he was wrong with his assumptions of the ruby-eyed teen. "I was only wearing that outfit because Sapphire and I have the same measurements. But still, thanks. That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." he smiles at him with tinted cheeks.

The sight of Ruby, being happy because of him, made Gold feel weird and warm inside. Keeping his composure, he hides his reddening cheeks behind his forgotten comic book.

"And I don't think your childish at all…well that's a lie, you act a bit childish most of the time." he chuckles at seeing Gold's pout, "But I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Besides, I think it's more of you being charismatic than anything. It suits you. Those goggles suit you." Ruby smiles at him, going back to his work.

The two didn't bother to say anything else, except for the silent agreement that neither are no longer upset at one other.


	3. Third Year

Ruby was staring at his Diggersby bracelet he received a year ago. He was not fond of such unappealing things but he couldn't deny that the pokemon itself were quite handy and reliable, especially with the thought that came with the gift. He's actually quite fond of it. A lot of people would most likely hate him for judging things based on their appearance, but deep down, he knows when things truly mattered, despite his reactions. Besides, it's not really any of their business if he were to like pretty things.

The sound of the door bursting open, broke Ruby's trail of thought, suddenly hiding the bracelet from view. An alarmed expression imprinted on his face as he caught sight of a darkened figure, clumsily entering the room. The dim lighting of the pale moonlight was enough for him to barely distinguish the silhouette of his usually exuberant roommate.

"Gold?" He calls out, lightly. "Is that, you?"

Silence was the only response he received. The feeling of nervousness slowly creeps up on him for every second that passes, as he stares at the unresponsive silhouette of whom he assumes—now with an ounce of doubt—to be his roommate.

"Gold?" The worry in his voice, obvious.

"Yeah, itz'me," the black figure slurred, swaying as he closes the door, the signature baseball cap and goggles were now visible.

Ruby sighed, relieved that it was him all along. However, the scratchy voice and unusual movement of the other teen made him realize that he was intoxicated, which wasn't quite new. "You're drunk again," he stated, with a hint of irritation. As he stood up from his bed, he slings Gold's arm over his shoulder to support the plastered teen, guiding him to his own mattress.

"Relax, bro. I just got a few drinks here and there. No big deal."

The smell of alcohol was apparent, and it made Ruby flinch at the stench as he grabs some aspirin and a bottle of water. "You better not vomit in here. You smelling like booze is bad enough," He warned, half-jokingly.

With that said, Gold quickly covers his mouth and scrunched his eyes close. "Please don't say that word."

Ruby sighs, returning to his own side of the room. He nervously watches the drunken teen sit back and nurse his growing headache. Ever since they've started their third year, the two of them became a lot more busy with their schedule and payed more time into their social groups. Ruby focused on his class projects and personal work, while Gold...well it seems that Gold has found himself a troublesome group of friends, often coaxing him in doing every bad habit known to adventurous teenagers, at least that's what Ruby thinks. He already scolded Gold about them and how they're a bad influence, but the exuberant teen just refuse to listen, often throwing out excuses relating to his own life choices.

But even so, Ruby is still allowed to worry for his friend's well being. Whether he liked it or not.

"You know those guys are just going to get you into trouble one day, not that they already haven't," Ruby reminded, receiving only an annoyed twitch from the other. "Next thing you know they'll start getting you into drugs, eventually ruining your future, sending you to a downward spiral of crime and infamy," he went of in a tangent, making dramatical hand-gestures, "and inevitably, lead you to regret, depression, and then ultimately, suicide."

"Whoa, you went from 0 to 100 there, buddy," Gold chuckled, half-heartedly, strangely gazing at him. "Anyways, I want to tell you something-"

"I'm serious." Ruby cuts him off, too annoyed at Gold's behavior. "What would Crystal think if she finds out you're getting into trouble again." He looks at him with concern, the memory of seeing Gold behind bars was still vivid, During that time, He and Crystal received a call from the exuberant teen whom addressed them as—big bro, and big sis—while feinting regret from getting himself into trouble, and needing to pick him up from the police station.

After receiving the call, Crystal was livid to no end, even daring to tell Gold's parents about their son's failed attempt at shoplifting. Since then, Ruby has taken the time to try and keep him in line.

Specify the word, try.

"It's none of your business, and I told you a million times already. It was my fault, not theirs, and you better not say anything to Crys!" Gold glared, feeling aggravated for having the overprotective girl to be involved. He really wished that he didn't call her and Ruby for help back then, and instead settled for calling his buddy Silver. Although, he was out of the city that day, so he really didn't have a choice.

"I won't if you stop hanging out with those guys."

"Damnit! How many times do I have to say this. They're not as bad as you think they are!"

"Yeah, because all of the trouble you got yourself into wasn't proof enough."

"I told you already! All of that was _my_ fault. No one else," He looks down in sadness before glaring back at him. "So stop acting like we're married! Just go back to all of your—oh, so—very important work, and stop butting into my life."

Ruby frowns, flushing. "You know what, whatever." He flings the water bottle and medicine at him. "go have fun with your shitty friends."

"Hey fuck you! Don't call my friends shitty...you're shitty..." Gold states, contemplating, as he watches the irritated teen return to his bed, turning away from him. With a sigh, Gold clutches harder on his pillow, whispering something incoherent that causes him to flush a darker shade of red.

-0-

The barring sound of the school bell signaled Gold that he was barely on time for his first class, which was a clutch considering how late he woke up this morning. Although the empty smile of Professor Grimsley sent shivers down his spine, hinting that he disapproved of his, almost tardiness.

"Care to take your seat?" the professor motioned, too politely.

Gold nervously nodded and went to his seat, located at the back of the room, right beside Crystal who looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't walk with Ruby," she stated, already thinking of the implications of the current situation.

He didn't bother responding, and instead look at the direction of the ruby-eyed teen, who was all the way at the front of the classroom. The hazy memory of last night, suddenly coming back to him, combined with the pain of realizing how distant he and the other became.

During that night, he intentionally got himself buzzed in order to gain the courage to tell Ruby how he felt, but instead, it got out of hand, to the point that he ended up turning the feelings to frustration. He didn't understand why the other had such a negative perception towards his newfound friends: Red and Blue always kept an eye on him, treating him as if he was their own younger brother—or even child, considering how affectionate those two act towards one another; while Green and Yellow were more of the older sisters that he never had, always trying their best to keep him in line.

Sure, there were times he got himself into trouble, but that was because he personally couldn't get his hands to himself. So to him, it was unjustified to blame anyone else but himself. Maybe if Ruby never brought them up, he would have already done what he planned to do that night.

"If you're not going to pay attention, you should at least pretend you're listening to our prof, rather than being obviously lovestruck at you know who," whispered Crystal.

"I'm n-not!" he shouted unintentionally, immediately covering his mouth, hoping that their professor didn't hear him, which he did. The evil eye that was sent his way, informed Gold that he was on thin ice. Maybe it would be best to not think of his friend for a while.

Hours passed and the class finally ends, Gold desperately looks around for Ruby, hoping to be able to talk to him, but was rather unfortunate since the other seems to have already left.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" Crystal asked, concern written on her face.

"Oh, uh..."

The hesitant look on Gold's face informed her that he won't be saying anything anytime soon. She looks around the place, noticing the emptiness of the room. The way that Ruby rushed out of the classroom, and Gold's situation earlier implied that the two may have had a fight recently. "Ruby, is definitely avoiding you," she stated. " I don't know what happened between the two of you but I think it's best for you to leave him to calm down for a bit."

Gold wanted to object, but knows she's right.

"What about this, I'll try talking to him instead, since your kind of the reason why he's angry right now. Maybe I could get him to settle down and encourage him to talk to you," she suggested.

It took him a while to make a decision, but he knows that he didn't want Ruby to be angry at him anymore. "Alright, I'm counting on you, Crys."

As the school day comes to an end, the flooded halls continues to lessen, as more and more students head outside to spend the rest of their friday afternoon at their own leisure. Gold was currently at his locker when he felt his PokePhone ring. He brought out the device from his pocket and didn't bother to inspect who was calling him.

"Hello?"

"Gold, where the hell are you right now!" An angry demanding voice bursted out of the device.

"Silver? What the hell-"

"Meet me at the front of the school, Right. Now," Silver demanded, before hanging up.

Gold stared at his phone in bewilderment, "What the hell is up with him?" he wondered, and also knew he should take his friend's words seriously, lest he want to get himself beaten.

When he arrived at his destination, he spotted his friend's Camaro-wak waiting for him. The way the vehicle was idling implied that the other has been waiting for quite a while. He could even sense the engine heating up as if it's trying to contain copious amount of energy, just waiting to burst, which was in contrast to how his red-headed friend was blankly staring at the road, gripping on the steering wheel, waiting for him. Not even a twitch or the usual scowl, hell, he didn't even glanced his way as he entered his car. He just immediately drove without a single word, the muffled sound of the outside world conveyed the tense atmosphere from inside the vehicle.

"...So..." Gold started.

"Your boyfriend got in a fight with Red and the others," Silver informs, keeping a straight face on the road.

If it weren't for the serious urgency in his voice, Gold would have thrown a retort at him for the obvious teasing of his and Ruby's, not so, relationship.

"Well, at least he tried to. From what Crystal told me, he was the one who instigated it, but the idiot got himself injured before anything started. Right now, she and Red's friends drove him to the hospital. If you want more details you have to ask her yourself."

Gold couldn't believe his ears. Ruby was never the one to personally start a fight with anyone. Even though the teen was usually hot headed, he never involve himself in anything physical, saying its a barbaric and idiotic. Besides, he's usually the more rational one between the two of them.

He just hoped that Ruby would be okay.

When Gold and Silver arrived at the hospital, a nurse led them to the room their friend was settled in. A glass window being the only barrier that separated them from the injured teen.

Gold's eyes widen as he caught sight of Ruby's slumbering form. There were some bruises and cuts on his arms, but what truly stood out the most was the bandages that were wrapped around his head. He felt a sudden urge to rush in to the room, to stand alongside him, making sure he was truly alright, but a tap on his shoulder grabbed his attention.

He turned and saw that it was Crystal, a worried look on her face, obviously trying to be sympathetic. Alongside her was many of their friends. One of which, was Red.

Gold suddenly felt a boiling hot feeling overwhelm his vision, causing him to burst towards the unsuspecting red-capped teen, aggressively grabbing him by the hem of his shirt.

"What the hell did you do!?" he shouted, glaring up into worried-filled eyes.

He didn't receive any response from him, but instead, from Blue. "He didn't do anything. None of us did," he responded, calmly, yet obviously irked by the fact that Gold tried to take out his anger at the silent teen. "Ruby confronted us and ranted about always getting you into trouble. We tried reasoning with him but he eventually started to get physical. We tried holding him back but he ended up tripping and accidentally fell on a pile of broken glass."

"We called for an ambulance as soon as we could." Crystal spoke out from behind, "they said that he was lucky that he wasn't cut too deep or got hit anywhere vital." She looks down in sadness. "But still, seeing him bleed out like that..."

Gold was silent, despondent. The possibility of Ruby not making it made him feel hollow and guilty, especially knowing that the teen only did what he did was because of him. If only he didn't get himself into that argument last night, then maybe none of this would have ever happened. But now, the only thing that he can do is wait.

-0-

Ruby-colored eyes flutter open to a clean white room. A beeping sound from a machine can be heard, in synch with the ticking of an analogue clock, indicating the time for the first meal of the day. The strong smell of antiseptic made Ruby realize that he was in a hospital, clean cuts and bandages all over him. He finds an indoor window across from him, vaguely recognizing a person from the outside.

As the individual suddenly disappears from view, the doors of the room open, revealing a tall raven-haired adult.

"D-Dad, What are y-you doing here?" Ruby asks, nervously.

The parent greets the teen with a blank expression. "How are you feeling?" He asks, calmly.

"Oh, I-I'm fine." Ruby sheepishly responds as he raises his arms a bit, staring at the bandages. "It hurts a little bit, but that's how injuries are meant to feel, right?" he jokes.

The blank expression remains, now arms folding. "Good, I'm glad you're in a mood to joke around. Last I heard, you were in the mood for fighting."

Ruby looks down, not knowing what to say.

"Is this where all those years led up to. Is this what you were talking about when you said you were capable of taking care of yourself, proving to us how 'mature' you truly are."

"D-Dad I-"

"Do you know what it's like to work hours on end, only to hear your only son was sent to a hospital." He stated, bringing a tense atmosphere into the room.

The teen remains silent, suddenly finding the sheets on the bed more interesting than the upcoming lecture.

"I'm pulling you out of that school.

"What! Just because of this!" Ruby's gaze immediately transfix at the parent, desperately pleading. "I only have a year left. You can't just do this! What about all the times I didn't get myself into trouble, you can't just throw all the hard work I did and pretend as if it meant nothing!"

A brief eye twitch from the adult could have been seen. "This," the father pointed at the bandages on the teen's head, "almost got you killed. Are you telling me that is not enough of a reason to do so?"

"But you don't even know what happened. It was only an accident, things just got out of hand and I kinda let myself get into..." Ruby cuts himself of, worriedly, knowing that his reasoning will further encourage his dad. "It was just one mistake, mistake happens. So if you could just-"

"Enough. I've already made my decision. I'm pulling you out of that school and that's final." The adult turns away, leaving before the teen could say anything.

It was unfair for his dad to do this. Ever since he was little, his parents were the ones who chose his decisions for him, not sparing him a chance to make his own. Although at the same time, he also knows that they were just being overprotective, at least, that's what Sapphire observed when they were little. Maybe if he let his dad calm down first, then he would be able to talk to him out of it.

After the adult left, leaving the teen to his lonesome. It was only after a few seconds does the doors open once again, revealing his friends, Sapphire and Crystal, who were carrying a bunch of get-well gifts, and right behind them was Gold, who was too busy looking anywhere else but him.

"Ruby, you're okay!" Sapphire hugs his side gently. "We were so worried!"

"Seeing you fall down like that wasn't the best thing to witness you know. Please don't do it again," says Crystal, holding a bundle of flowers.

"Sorry, for causing you guys this much trouble," Ruby gives them a sad smile.

"Oh, don't be like that! You're our friend. We'll always worry for you."

"Yeah, I know. That's the only thing I've been causing you guys," he deflects again, no longer meeting their eyes.

Crystal and Sapphire looks at one another, wondering how to cheer him up, until Gold appeared from behind, frustration clear on his face. "Stop thinking that!" he shouts, before a brief huff made him deflate, frustration now replaced with guilt. "It wasn't your fault."

"Gold…" Ruby whispered, looking up at golden eyes.

Sapphire and Crystal looks at one another and places the gifts on the table, stepping outside to give the two some privacy.

When it was only the two of them in the room, Ruby tries to get a hold of himself. "Gold, I just wanna say-" He was immediately cut off by a brisk hug. He was shocked at first, but after a while, he immediately returned it, wrapping his arms around the golden-eyed teen.

Neither of them said a word, only letting the ambience of the room envelope the two of them. Gold was afraid of saying anything, the fear of screwing up and causing another argument between them was too much. So instead, he resorted with a hug, hoping that all his worries, apologies, guilt, and sincere forgiveness can be conveyed through the intimate interaction.

As the two separates, Ruby smiles at him. "I guess this time I'm the who got into trouble, huh?"

Gold chuckles, wholeheartedly. "Heh, yeah. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Hey, um...I still want to apologize for worrying everyone, for worrying you. What I did was stupid."

Gold wanted scold him for thinking badly about himself again, but couldn't deny the fact. So instead, he decided to humor him. "Yeah, it was pretty stupid," he smiles, cheekily, receiving a pout from the injured teen. "But it was my fault too."

"No, I was the one who-"

Gold shakes his head, "You know, If we keep going like this, we'll just end up taking the blame over and over again. What about this, you forgive me for the times I got myself into trouble," he raises his hand, counting, "getting drunk late at night, failing to attend our study sessions, and for buying you that horrible Diggersby bracelet that you always hated for your birthday, while I forgive you for almost getting yourself killed."

Ruby raises his eyebrow, feinting confusion, with a hint of amusement. "Hm...I don't know. That Diggersby bracelet was really horrible. I don't think you could ever make up for that." He smiles at him, then immediately laughed after seeing the pout, Gold sent his way. As his laughter dies down, he smiles again, fondly. "Alright, I forgive you."

"Aw, I knew you could never hate me." Gold grins, happily.

Suddenly, Ruby was reminded of his dad's words. He wonders if it would be a good idea to mention it.

"Hey, what's wrong? You started frowning there."

He shakes his head. "No, don't worry. Just...thinking about things." He decides to tell him another time.


End file.
